In a scathing attack on the UPA, BJP president Nitin Gadkari tonight said so long as the Congress was in power, the country would witness price rise, farmers’ suicides, terror attacks and unemployment.
“So long as Congress is there, there will be price rise and unemployment, farmers will continue to commit suicides and terrorists will keep killing innocents,” Gadkari, on his first visit to the party-ruled Karnataka after becoming BJP president, said here.
Unemployment, hunger, poverty and farmers’ suicides are linked to “wrong economic policies”, he told a public meeting, where senior leader KS Eshwarappa formally took charge as the new state unit president of the party.
He said 48 lakh tonnes of sugar was exported under the UPA regime in the last two years at a price of Rs12.50 to Rs13 per kg and the government even gave export and transport subsidy. “Now we are getting sugar for Rs36 to Rs40”.
While the government gave farmers a minimum support price of Rs9 per kg for wheat, it’s now importing the commodity at Rs16.50 per kg “which is not even fit for consumption by cattle”.
Slamming the “wrong propaganda” by rival parties to brand BJP as a communal party and anti-secular, he said, “We have to go to the people and tell them the truth”.
“We are not against minorities. We are against Pakistan, ISI, Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Toiba, which kill innocents and we are against terrorists,” Gadkari said.
He said Chinese military had been “sneaking in and taking our land, but our important national ministers and the prime minister are tightlipped; they are not even ready to say anything”.
Outgoing state unit President D V Sadananda Gowda handed over the charge to Eshwarappa, who is taking up the assignment for the third time, after being at the helm of party affairs twice in the 1990s.
Eshwarappa, who rose from the RSS ranks, was unanimously elected to the post earlier this week following which he resigned as water resources and energy minister.
Senior BJP leader HN Ananth Kumar and chief minister BS Yeddyurappa were among those who attended the meeting.
Yeddyurappa dismissed allegations levelled by opposition parties that state coffers were empty, saying the financial position was better than the last year.
Gadkari denies
BJP National President Nitin Gadkari today said he had not made any statement comparing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with the Father of the Nation Mahathma Gandhi.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr Gadkari expressed anguish over the exhorted media reports on the issue and said ‘’I never made such remarks’’.
Clarifying the issue, the BJP President said inspired and motivations drawn from Mahathma Gandhi, the Gujarat Chief Minister had undertaken several poverty alleviation programmes in Gujarat in his attempt to bridge gap between poor and rich. ‘
‘But some section of media had exhorted my statement made at a public meeting at Porabandar yesterday, and provided twisted views on the issue’’ he said.
However, Mr Gadkari appreciated that Gujarat state was ahead with all other states in the country in maintaining steady and high growth of GDP which stood at over 14 per cent.
The Agriculture GDP growth in Gujarat was also high compared with other states. ‘’The initiatives taken by the Gujarat government in mitigating the problems including rise of price of essential commodities and tackling power problem were exemplary’’ he said.